Red Empire are a five-piece band from the four corners of Dublin. Their début EP,  ’Strange Philosophy’ was released back on the 18th February in The Village. Before the release of this three-track EP, the Red Empire boys caught up with Goldenplec’s very own Stephen Byrne for an interview. They said the EP  ”moves from a song about admitting when you’ve failed, to one [...]

The Wanted at The O2 on March 9th 2012 Review: Craig McDonnell Every now and then it’s good to step out of your comfort zone. Sitting on my own  in the middle of a row in the O2 between teenage girls and reluctant boyfriends getting ready to watch The Wanted is pretty much as far out of my comfort zone [...]

Another unsurprising announcement here, It’s exactly what we thought would happen and in a matter of hours the early bird tickets for the Forbidden Fruit 2012 festival went in a heartbeat. The festival which takes place on Saturday 2nd – Monday 4th June and features Wilco, New Order and Leftfield amongst the headliners for the urban festival has now put [...]

Rodrigo Y Gabriella at The Olympia Theatre on February 19th 2012 Photos: Aidan McCarthy Review: Craig McDonnell After 2 years, Rodrigo Sánchez and Gabriela Quintero (or Rodrigo y Gabriela to their friends) are back once again. Their latest album‘Area 52′  was released at the end of January and Dublin’s Olympia is the starting point for their nine date tour of Europe [...]

In case you’ve been living in a very well soundproofed rock for the past few years, And So I Watch You From Afar are an instrumental band from Belfast. Ask anybody who has seen them live what they think and one word will pop up time and time again: loud. I think I should state at the beginning that I [...]

A new venue is opening on Dame Lane, Dublin 2 this weekend. The Electric Lounge is located in the downstairs area where Shebeen Chic used to be. Gigs are guaranteed to be intimate with a capacity of just 70 punters. The first gig in this new venue is tonight, Friday 20th January featuring Simon Bird, Bantum & Ickis Mirolo (more information can be [...]

If you’re like me, you’ll have walked into a record store and bought an album based purely on the name or the artwork. Looking through the list of albums to review for Goldenplec, my eye kept being drawn to a certain ‘Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu’ and his album ‘Rrakala’. After signing up to check it out, I did a bit of [...]

Five days before Christmas when the majority of the country is more broke than usual is probably not the greatest time to be playing a gig, but three American pop-punk/hardcore bands hit the Academy 2 this Wednesday to end their long European tour, and by the sounds of it long year of touring in general. Transit kicked things off at [...]

It is probably unfair to compare any singer/songwriter to the mighty Leonard Cohen, but after listening to this album a few times the similarity seems almost impossible to ignore. This it the American’s fifth album and if you are in a good mood, this album will certainly try its best to kick you out of it. The album starts with [...]

Review of Scroobious Pip at Whelans – November 16th 2011 Review By: Craig McDonnell Photos and Videos By: Molly Hally Walking into an already jam-packed Whelans, the ever-increasing popularity of Scroobius Pip was clear from the start. Having played both Forbidden Fruit and Indiependence festivals over the summer, more and more people are getting to grips with the talented Essex-born [...]